Brief Description
Miscellaneous collection of items by or about evangelist Dwight L. Moody. These include letters, newspaper clippings, photos, handbills, and a phonograph record. For more information, please see guide.
Small Collection 36 [July 31, 2003]
Moody, Dwight Lyman; 1837-1899
Ephemera; 1875-1897, n.d.
1 Box (DC; .25 cubic feet), Oversize Materials, Phonograph Record, Photographs
Restrictions
Because of the fragile nature of documents in folders 1-5, 6, 7 and OS26 researchers must use the photocopies in folders 1-1, 2, 3, 4 instead.
Biography
| Full name | Dwight Lyman Moody | |
| Birth | February 5, 1837, Northfield, Massachusetts | |
| Death | December 22, 1899, Northfield, Massachusetts | |
| Family | ||
| Parents | Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody | |
| Siblings | Eight (six older and two younger) | |
| Marital Status | Married Emma Charlotte Revell, August 28, 1862 | |
| Children | Emma (1864), William Revell (1869), and Paul Dwight Moody (1879) | |
| Conversion | In 1855 | |
| Education | ||
| 1840s | Attended a rural one-room schoolhouse for a few years | |
| Career | ||
| 1856 | Moved to Chicago and worked as a shoe salesman | |
| 1858 | Began a Sunday school for poor children in Chicago which became the Illinois Street Church (now Moody Church) | |
| 1860 | Quit his job and entered by faith into unpaid full-time Christian work | |
| 1861-1865 | Did evangelistic and humanitarian work among Civil War soldiers | |
| 1865-1899 | Held evangelistic meeting held throughout the United States | |
| 1872-1873 | Held evangelistic meetings in Great Britain with Ira Sankey | |
| 1879-1889 | Involved in the development of: Northfield Seminary (now Northfield School for Girls), Mount Hermon Massachusetts School for Boys, the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute) and other ministries. He was the pre-eminent American evangelist of his time. | |
[Note: In the Scope & Content section, the notation "folder 1-5" means "Box 1, Folder 5"]
Scope and Content
Original documents have been photocopied and filed separately (see box list). The researcher should only use folders containing the copies. Folders listed below are those containing photocopies.
This collection consists of individual items, by or about Moody acquired from many different sources. There are several items written by Moody about his work and activities. There are six Moody letters (folder 1-1), both handwritten and typed, three of which ask for funds for the Northfield Schools and one for the work in Liverpool, England. The letters were addressed to Mr. Trowbridge, Mr. Henry W. Calhoun (December 4, 1893), Mrs. E. C. Hammer (May 28, 1897), and to "My dear Sir" (March 31, 1875). In addition there is a letter written to Mrs. Cockran concerned a scholarship (January 8, 1891) and one to Ira Sankey notified him of Moody's arrival in Chicago (December 4).
Items in folder 1-2 include a ticket to a "Moody Meeting" which was to beginning December 2, 1894, a Moody-Sankey handbill announcing a Men's Meeting, two Moody autographs with the scriptural reference, John 5:24 (one dated 1877), a ticket to "Special Union Services, conducted by Mr. D. L. Moody, at the Western Ave. M. E. Church" and a handbill advertising the sale of the memorial volume entitled, Life and Labors of Dwight L. Moody, by H. D. Northrop. An undated phonograph recording of Moody's voice reading "The Beatitudes," and Ira D. Sankey singing God Be With You is in the phonograph record file.
Six newspaper clippings from the New York Daily Tribune (1876) contain texts of Moody sermons are in folder 1-3. The text from February 27, 1876 issue is on the web at http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/docs/moody01.html Also included is an undated clipping titled, "Moody and Sankey - Story of how Moody discovered the man to help him."
There are ten portrait carte de viste of Dwight L. Moody (4), Ira D. Sankey (1), Philip P. Bliss (2), and Mrs. P.P. (Lucy Young) Bliss (2), and a composite portrait of Moody, Sankey, and Mr. and Mrs. P.P. Bliss. Also a photograph of the "Moody and Sankey" train wreck near Tariffville, Connecticut which was carrying passengers who had attended a Moody and Sankey revival meeting in January 1878.
A most unusual item is a handwritten Moody sermon booklet (folder 1-4) on the life of Jacob. Cut out Bible verses are pasted alongside his notes. An envelope enclosing it lists the dates and places where he delivered the sermon.
Provenance
Materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center in July 1978, March and June 1979, January, June, and September 1980, December 1983, April and September 1984, March, July, and November 1985, February 1986, December 1991, and February 1999.
Accession 78-30, 79-29, 79-60, 79-69, 80-10, 80-79, 80-111, 83-163, 84-60, 84-116, 85-39, 85-97, 85-163, 86-10, 91-113, 99-11
June 17, 1980
Mary Ann Buffington
S. Kouns
Revised, June 2, 1982
Frances L. Brocker
J. Nasgowitz
Revised, December 11, 1985
Frances L. Brocker
J. Nasgowitz
Updated August 29, 2002
Wayne D. Weber
Revised February 14, 2003
Wayne D. Weber
LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 79-69, 99-11
Type of material: Oversize Materials
The following items are in the OVERSIZE FILE. Request by collection number and folder
location (in parentheses)
OS 26. NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS & HANDBILL. Six original newspaper clippings from the New York Daily Tribune containing texts of D.L. Moody's sermons, 1876. One large handbill advertising the sale of a memorial volume entitled, Life and Labors of Dwight L. Moody, n.d.
*****LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 79-60
Type of material: Phonograph Records
The following items are located in the PHONOGRAPH RECORD FILE:
Phonograph record issued by the Moody Bible Institute Alumni Association. Side one contains Dwight L. Moody reading "The Beatitudes." Side two contains the hymn, God Be With You, sung by Ira D. Sankey.
LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 85-97, 85-163
Type of material: Photographs
The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE; request by folder title (in bold) at the
beginning of each entry below.
BLISS, PHILIP PAUL. Portrait carte de viste of Philip P. Bliss and another of his wife Lucy (Young) Bliss. N.d. 5 b&w copies of two images.
MOODY, DWIGHT L. Portrait carte de viste of Dwight Moody and one composite of Moody, Ira D. Sankey, and Mr. & Mrs. (Lucy Young) Philip P. Bliss. One 8"x10" photograph of the "Moody and Sankey" train wreck. 1878, n.d. 6 b&w.
SANKEY, IRA DAVID. Portrait carte de viste of Ira D. Sankey, n.d. 1 b&w.
| BOX LIST | |||
| Box | Folder | Contents | Dates |
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence (photocopies) | 1875-1897, n.d. |
| 1 | 2 | Handbills, ticket, autograph (photocopies) | 1877, 1894, n.d. |
| 1 | 3 | Newspaper Clippings (photocopies) | 1876, n.d. |
| 1 | 4 | Sermon Booklet "Jacob" (photocopies) | ca. 1876 |
| 1 | 5 R | Correspondence (originals) | 1875-1897, n.d. |
| 1 | 6 R | Handbills, ticket, autograph (originals) | 1877, 1894, n.d. |
| OS 26 | R | Newspaper Clippings & Handbill (originals) | 1876, n.d. |
| 1 | 7 R | Sermon Booklet "Jacob" (originals) | ca. 1876 |